Each offseason Tim Bontemps polls a set of NBA coaches, scouts and executives on quite a lot of matters. This time he collected 18 entries, so the outcomes are removed from common, however they do give a superb cross-section of the league vibes. (Aspect observe: I’m wondering if anybody is monitoring how correct these items are after the tip of the season.)
I discover these polls to be attention-grabbing throughout the board, however I admit to having a Boston Celtics bias, so let’s concentrate on the outcomes associated to the NBA Champs.
Who had the NBA’s finest offseason?
Most voters went with the 76ers or the Knicks, however the Celtics really acquired 2 votes on this class. Boston did re-sign or prolong nearly all their free brokers and extension eligible gamers (some on discount offers). Certain they locked in an enormous tax invoice, however that’s value of getting the most effective roster within the league.
The Sixers actually grabbed the highlight by nabbing the most effective free agent of the offseason. Given Paul George’s age and damage historical past, will probably be attention-grabbing to see how lengthy it takes for that contract to look extra like a legal responsibility than an asset. Nonetheless, they’ve a brief window to compete with Joel Embiid and so they acquired him the most effective teammate he’s ever performed with.
The Knicks made their very own headlines by opening a NYC Villanova Alumni Affiliation chapter of their stadium. In fact the price of these strikes was dropping standout middle Isaiah Hartenstein to the Thunder (extra on them quickly).
Who’s the NBA’s finest participant proper now?
Who would be the NBA’s finest participant in 5 years?
Who would be the 2024-25 NBA MVP?
I’m grouping these all collectively as a result of they’re all sort of other ways of asking the identical normal query. Neither Jayson Tatum or Jaylen Brown acquired any votes for the primary two classes however Tatum did get 2 MVP votes.
Jokic acquired far and away probably the most votes for finest participant with 15. Victor Wembanyama acquired 12 of the votes for finest participant in 5 years. Each are very logical selections and no person else acquired any greater than 2 votes. It will be very exhausting to make a case for Tatum being higher than Jokic proper now and all indicators level to Wemby taking on the league sooner somewhat than later. So I don’t put an excessive amount of inventory into Tatum not displaying up in both listing.
The MVP race may very well be attention-grabbing. SGA acquired 7 votes, Doncic acquired 5, then 3 gamers tied with 2 every (Tatum, Anthony Edwards, and Jokic). Aspect observe: No Giannis???
From Bontemps:
Tatum picked up votes on the power of Boston’s title and the expectation he’ll proceed to be the most effective participant on the league’s finest group, whereas these choosing Jokic are voting for a historic MVP run. A fourth award in 5 seasons would transfer him into an especially unique group — solely LeBron James and Invoice Russell have performed it.
Tatum has performed the whole lot he can to earn the respect of voters and followers, together with doing the one main factor they mentioned he couldn’t by profitable the NBA title. No one can take that away from him and he deserves each victory lap he takes. Nonetheless, it looks as if there’s nonetheless extra he has to show to the league earlier than he’ll be thought of Most Precious.
This most likely deserves its personal column, however it’s attention-grabbing that Tatum can’t appear to “win” right here. He’s confirmed earlier than that he can put up enormous stats for a contending group; however he acquired knocked for not profitable all of it. Then he does the best factor by sacrificing stats to place his group excessive to win the title; then he will get knocked for not being dominant each evening.
I can see a path to Tatum profitable MVP. The Celtics have already got the shine of being the defending champs. They’ll be with out Porzingis for a superb portion of the season, so maybe Jayson will likely be leaned on extra closely. He additionally carries a heavy playmaking load when groups are forcing the ball out of his fingers. If he can simply hit the next share of his 3 pointers, he may bump up his scoring whereas sustaining all the opposite good issues he does on the court docket (rebounding, defending, making the best subsequent play, and so on.).
Then once more, voters are fickle of us and who is aware of what narrative they’ll gravitate to this coming season?
Which group will win every convention in 2024-25?
The Celtics acquired 13 of the 18 votes. No one else acquired greater than 2. Nearly everybody appears to grasp that Boston is the most effective group within the East. I’m simply going to imagine that the 5 different voters are haters or biased towards the Celtics.
Who will win the 2024-25 NBA title?
The Celtics acquired 8 votes, beating out the Thunder that acquired 7 (no person else acquired multiple). I do know that the Nuggets misplaced a key performer and Jamal Murray doesn’t look fairly proper not too long ago, however I’m a bit shocked at how rapidly they’ve been written off. Additionally, I do know that the Mavericks represented the West within the Finals, however that appeared a bit flukey to me personally.
I can actually see the logic behind the Thunder. They tied for probably the most wins within the West final yr and so they added key items in Caruso and Hartenstein. Plus their youthful gamers are a yr older with playoff expertise below their belts. They’ve a deep, hungry, gifted group that performs with poise. I may actually see them popping out of the West and giving the Celtics a run for his or her cash.
Nonetheless, …Celtics in 6.
